7 factors to choose the right hotel mapping provider for your travel business

Picking the right hotel mapping provider has become a necessity for every travel business. Since most travel companies rely on a multi-supplier strategy for sourcing accommodations, there is a possibility to have duplicate data on your platform. Hotel mapping removes duplicate and inconsistent hotel data and enhances the customer booking experience. While you can rely on your in-house team (which can be costly, and complex), there are mapping experts that can take away the complexities and let you focus on your critical business functions. So how do you choose a hotel mapping provider? Let’s get started.  

7 Evaluation Criteria When Choosing Hotel Mapping Vendor   

Once you have decided to outsource a hotel mapping provider, you will want to evaluate the options different providers offer and look at how they would support your business goals. Here are seven primary evaluation criteria for selecting a mapping vendor.  

1. Customer Support  

Commitment to customer success should be an important parameter to look for. Software projects with the newest technologies such as natural language processing (NLP), machine learning might encounter unanticipated challenges. Since most mapping providers offer automated and advanced technology-based mapping solutions, it is important they have a quick turnaround time on escalations. Ask questions to your mapping provider about   

• What is their response time for queries?   
• What form of support will you have access to, such as if you would get chat-based support or access to a dedicated resource. 

2. Accuracy  

Accuracy is another essential parameter when vetting hotel mapping providers. Inaccurate mapping can lead to bad mapping, which can cost travel firms revenue loss if customers cancel their reservations owing to bad mapping. 

An ideal hotel mapping provider must offer the highest level of accuracy in terms of accurately mapping the data that will help every travel business to develop a customer-centric platform. Various hotel mapping providers leverage the latest technology such as AI, machine learning, and natural language processing (NLP), which ensures unmatched accuracy.   

3. Mapping Percentage 

Next factor to consider is mapping percentage, which means how much hotel data gets mapped by your hotel mapping provider. A travel agency must vet the mapping provider based on this factor and check if they map 100% of the hotel data given by the supplier or Bed Banks. For example, if your hotel supplier is Expedia, then your mapping provider should map 100% of hotels from Expedia across other suppliers for you. 

 4. Coverage  

Consumers love options, and travel agencies work with multiple suppliers to offer a plethora of hotels to their customers.  So, the next factor to focus on is mapping coverage. You must vet your mapping provider on how many suppliers do they have already integrated within their platform. You have partnered with the right hotel mapping provider if they cover and map all the hotels given by the suppliers. 

 5. Reliability  

Next important criteria to vet for is how reliable is your hotel mapping provider. While most SaaS businesses claim to deliver high-quality services or products, it is important to assess through their existing client feedback. Reach out to the vendor’s customers and ask questions-  

• How long have they been their client?  
• How responsive is their customer service team?  

• How has the provider addressed their queries and needs?  

Collaborate with a provider with a proven track record and read about their customer success stories, testimonials, and reviews. You definitely don’t want to work with a business whose software is slow, buggy or has security issues.     

 6. Speed  

It would be best if you evaluated a hotel mapping provider on how fast they can deliver accurately mapped hotels and rooms. The faster the mapped properties, the quicker you can start selling them. This will also directly impact your customer booking experience, as your customers will get the freshest, up-to-date hotel data on your platform.   

Look for a hotel mapping provider that can deliver mapped content at the earliest (say 1-2 days) without compromising quality.   

7. Ease of integration 

In addition to making your product readily accessible, it’s equally important to ensure that your mapping API can be easily integrated into booking engines quickly and efficiently. Focus on making more integration options available to your customers, research the issues they face while integrating your product and try to ease out their pain points. 

A hotel mapping vendor is essential for every size travel company that wants to stay agile and avoid investing in large amounts of capital for advanced technology like AI and machine learning. If you are in the process of choosing a hotel mapping vendor for your business, thoroughly vet prospective providers using the key factors mentioned above. The right hotel mapping provider can bring an impactful business change to your company and help you focus on what matters the most- your customers.